


Conspiracy

by Kiiratam



Series: The Weissian Conspiracy [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: But not in her usual way, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Weiss suffers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 11:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20063185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: Weiss contacts Kali, to get advice on getting Blake and Yang back together.Takes place between Volumes 5 and 6. (My BMBLB fic index)





	Conspiracy

<Sun, this is Weiss. May I ask a favor of you?>

  
She tapped send. Weiss wasn't exactly thrilled about asking for that rapp- for Sun's help, but her options were limited.

  
<Weiss! So long as you don't need a valet, I'm your man! Neptune would never forgive me if I didn't help you. What is it?>

  
Weiss sighed. She'd almost forgotten about Neptune. Of course, they hadn't seen each other since the fall of Beacon. She still thought he was a handsome fellow. And he had started taking dance lessons, to correct one of his obvious deficiencies. But... she'd lost contact with him, and so much had happened that she wasn't sure if she still had feelings for him. Had it just been a crush? Was there something more there?

  
In any event, if Sun was willing to help her for Neptune's sake, she'd take it.

  
She typed, <I need to get into touch with Kali Belladonna. Do you have her contact information?> Weiss hit send before she could second guess herself.

  
She had a plan. There were just some parts that were... shaky. Like it or not, she had just started on one of those parts. And it felt vaguely like crossing a river on a razor blade. Weiss expected Sun to ask why. To have to lay out her whole scheme, take the chatterbox into her confidence.

  
<I mean, I can just pass my scroll over. She's right here. Don't you know it's tea-time? :D>

  
Weiss blinked down at her scroll. That did simplify matters. There was just one potential problem. <...What am I called on your scroll?>

  
<Uhhh.... Ice Queen.>

  
She buried her head in her arms. Only slightly mortifying. But she would survive it. <All right. Pass your scroll over.> She started typing her next message. <Mrs. Belladonna? This is Weiss Schnee, one of your daughter's team-mates. Can we meet and talk tomorrow?>

  
Her finger hesitated over the send button. If this was just one of Sun's pranks, it hardly mattered. Just a little more embarrassment. If it was actually Kali Belladonna, part of the original leadership of the White Fang - Weiss knew what had happened to Schnee Dust Corporation leaders who fell into the White Fang's clutches. What they'd do with her, even if she wasn't technically the heiress - Weiss swallowed. She was about to put a lot of trust in the White Fang. In a bunch of riff- in a bunch of Faunus. In Blake's mother. Blake hadn't exactly put much trust in her.

  
But she'd shown up when they needed her. Blake and the Menagerie militia had driven off the White Fang, saved Haven Academy from the bombs.

  
And what had Weiss done to deserve that rescue? Acted like an arrogant child to everyone, driven Blake away when she revealed her Faunus heritage. Weiss had tried to be better, to act like a real team-mate. Put up with the gentle teasing, support them in their endeavors, try to make all of them stronger.

  
Weiss was trying. She had to assume Blake was trying. Was fighting her own battles. She had to try to help. She hit send.

  
Sat there on the couch, listening to Yang and Ruby train in the courtyard behind her. Waiting, scroll open.

  
<I trust you to not waste my time or yours, Miss Schnee. 9AM, at the statue in Lu Ten plaza.>

  
Weiss let out a breath. A public place, with clear sight lines. At that time, it wouldn't be deserted, but they could gain a measure of privacy. About as neutral a meeting point as she could have hoped for. <Thank you. I'll meet you there.>

  
<Sun here. What was all that about?>

  
<It's... complicated. I'll be safe, don't worry.> She didn't want to involve Sun more than she had to. But that was because this would take a delicate touch, and Sun was a firecracker. <Thanks, Sun. I appreciate it.>

  
<Sure! Uh, sorry about the Ice Queen crack. I'll change that.>

  
Weiss bit her lip. <It's all right. I did kind of earn it.> That admission, to Sun of all people... She was trying. <Have you heard from Neptune?>

* * *

Weiss stood in Lu Ten Plaza, looking up at the statue. Two soldiers in Mistral uniform, in bronze. An officer and a common soldier, both injured, limping forward. The sculptor had captured the tension in their shoulders, the grim determination to just keep moving forward.

  
She'd struggled with the desire to bring Myrtenaster. On one hand, carrying her weapon made her feel safer. On the other, she didn't want to present a threatening picture for Mrs Belladonna. And, as she'd proved back in the Branwen bandit camp, she didn't need Myrtenaster to defend herself. But she hadn't exactly advertised that fact. So she'd come unarmed.

  
Weiss took a deep breath. She was here, it was time, she just needed to wait for Mrs Belladonna to show up. She returned her attention to the statue, trying to distract herself. The mood, that iron resolve, was atypical for Mistral works. It was much more of an Atlasian sentiment. And the officer and the common soldier, united, without a clear hierarchical delineation. That was more typical of Vacuo. She looked for elements that would suggest Vale.

  
"Miss Schnee." She jumped. A little too effective at distracting herself.

  
Standing nearby, directly in her field of vision, was Kali Belladonna. They'd met in passing in the aftermath of the battle of Haven. But Weiss had been injured, tired, distracted by Blake's return. She remembered a face, and little more. Kali looked like her daughter - maybe a bit less hard-edged. Softer. Weiss tried not to put too much trust in that appraisal.

  
Weiss held out her hand. "Mrs Belladonna. Thank you for meeting me."

  
Kali glided past her hand and wrapped her in a warm hug. "Please, call me Kali. I've heard so much about you."

  
This was not going how she thought it would. She had expected raised hackles, barely hidden hostility, terse words. Her manners took over. "Very well, Kali. Please, call me Weiss."

  
"Would you like to sit?" Kali indicated a bench a few yards away. "I find myself on my feet more than I would like, lately. And it's important to take what rest you can."

  
Weiss let herself be steered over to the bench, trying to remember her lines of attack.

  
"Now then, Weiss, what did you want to talk about?"

  
"It's about Blake. I don't mean to steal your daughter from you, but team RWBY needs her back."

  
Kali nodded. "We knew she was only visiting with us. But you don't need me to get Blake to come back."

  
Weiss sighed. "I know. It's more complicated than that." She tried to order her thoughts. "It's less about her coming back and more how. How much do you know about the Fall of Beacon? What happened to team RWBY, more than anything?"

  
"We received some news reports about what happened. When Blake and Sun showed up, we got more out of them. More from Sun than my daughter, if I'm being honest. Was there a specific detail you needed me to know?"

  
"About Adam. And Yang."

  
Kali's ears drooped, and she looked down. "She was very brave. I wanted to thank Yang for what she did. But every time I ask Blake about meeting her, she dodges the question."

  
"There's... more there. Not just what happened at the Fall of Beacon. Yang and Blake - they were close."

  
"How close?"

  
Weiss tried not to remember all the incidents she'd come across between the two of them. Some of them, she'd probably just walking in at the wrong time, drawn the wrong conclusions. Others - were harder to mistake.

  
She evidently failed, must have let something slip, because Kali smiled and said. "Oh. Very close."

  
"I... can't really give you specifics. I don't know everything that happened between them, only what I saw."

  
"But you seem convinced by it."

  
Weiss colored, pressed on. "But then, Beacon fell, and Blake vanished, and I was taken back to Atlas, and Ruby left - I don't think Yang took it well. Any one of them would have been bad, but all of them? At once?" She forced herself to still her hands, keep them from plucking at her skirt.

  
Kali kept silent, waiting for her to continue.

  
"I don't know why Blake doesn't want you to meet Yang. I mean, Yang is... different. Quieter than she was."

  
"I promise you, I already like her much more than Blake's last special friend. She's shown that she can care about people other than herself."

  
Weiss started. She had never actually thought of Blake and Adam as a couple. Intellectually, she knew that it had happened. But the simple banalities, of a mother not liking the new boyfriend... How bad had Adam been, when Kali was willing to embrace a Schnee, someone whose family was responsible for so much pain, like a daughter?

  
Kali continued. "I don't know if my husband likes her, but Ghira doesn't like anyone. At least until he's really had a chance to sit down and debate with them. Which is why Sun frustrates him so much. The boy jumps around so much, that Ghira can't actually get him talking."

  
"Usually, getting Sun to talk isn't the problem."

  
Laughing, Kali said, "Oh, you're not wrong! The problem is that my husband wants to have Deep Talks about Serious Issues, and Sun would much rather have a cup of tea and chatter about people he knows."

  
"Oh." Yes, that did sound like Sun.

  
"He'd like you, once the talks were over."

  
"Me?" Weiss doubted that. She was a Schnee.

  
"Blake told us about your conversations that night in Mountain Glenn. My Ghira would debate with you until he could draw that forth for himself, and get a good look at you. But once he got there, I think he wouldn't mind that you were a Schnee." Her ears tilted. "It might be a lot of yelling before he got to that point, though."

  
Weiss looked down, clasped her hands over her knees.

  
"Don't look so down, Weiss. I wouldn't abandon you to it. A week or two of tea would probably see him come around. And you won't find a better advocate than Ghira, once you've won him over."

  
"I - would like that. But I don't know if we have time."

  
Kali nodded. "Yes, you and team RWBY are headed out again soon. We'll have to do that another time. But let's return to your original point. You need Blake back."

  
"Yes. But we need to actually be a team, not just Ruby and Weiss and Blake and Yang. And, frankly, Blake and Yang are the problem."

  
"You're worried about how Yang will take Blake being back."

  
Nodding, Weiss said, "And how Blake acts around Yang. I just- I want them to be happy again, even if it leads to more embarrassing incidents for me. I don't know how to get them back there."

  
"And you came to me?"

  
"You know Blake. But in a very different way than I do. I was hoping we could come up with a plan to help."

  
Kali's ears dipped a little bit. "You know, these sorts of schemes usually don't help. Trying to get two people together is more a matter of letting them be with each other, and letting them decide for themselves."

  
"Then help me figure out how to let that happen. It needs fixing and if I have to hand them the tools and let them settle it themselves, so be it. I don't think Ruby even understands that there is a problem, much less what it is. So it falls to me. It's bad for the team until it's fixed, and that puts everyone at risk. More than I can say." Weiss had probably said too much already. But she had already trusted Kali once, and she needed to keep trusting her.

  
They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the bustle of the crowd, the wind blowing about the plaza.

  
"There are a few things I can think of." Kali said. "General practices - let them have time alone together. Give them the space they need to work things out. And it may not take immediately. You can't expect things to get right back to normal because you left them alone for twenty minutes. It's going to be a process, and it may seem like things get worse before they get better."

  
Weiss nodded, making a mental list.

  
"Talk to everyone else, make sure they know what's going on. As much as you can. Especially Ruby." Weiss tried to interrupt, but Kali cut her off with a chop of her hand. "You need to work as a team on this. That means everyone, even if you have to sit and explain it to Ruby for hours."

  
Weiss opened her mouth, thought better of it. Closed her mouth. Ruby just had problems understanding people, and relationships, and- Maybe if she drew up diagrams, presented the information to Ruby as a sort of schematic, it'd make more sense to her.

  
Kali continued. "Let it be normal. Don't make a fuss, even if you're shouting for joy on the inside. You can be happy for them, but keep it cool." She smiled. "But that ought to be easy for you, 'Ice Queen.' Just be sure to tell everyone else."

  
Trying not to blush, Weiss nodded. She'd have to get back at Sun for that. Snowball in his hair? Freeze his drink solid?

  
"For specifics - my daughter will never admit it, but she likes to distract herself and settle in. If she has enough books, she can tolerate nearly anything. I know you'll be traveling, so she won't have a library, but if you see her pulling back into herself, you need to draw her back out. Not just reading - please, she needs some time alone. But withdrawing."

  
"That's what she did for most of our first semester. Before she told us she was a Faunus."

  
"Ah, the bow trick. Uncomfortable, but it can work."

  
"You know it?"

  
"I showed it to her. It's a good trick to know, especially if you may be wandering around a city, looking for a rendezvous point. Little human children are given directions by the nice police officer. Little Faunus children get taken down to the station house for processing."

  
Weiss paled. She hadn't thought of it like that. Hadn't even considered the possibility.

  
"If you contrive anything - and I'm not saying you should - but if you do, it should probably end with you embarrassed. Listen at the door for a moment before coming in, pretend to be surprised. It might be a nice reminder of how things were."

  
My suffering to help their connection. Fair trade. "Anything else?"

  
Kali quirked her ears, thinking. "That should serve."

  
Weiss pulled out her scroll. "In that case, I had questions about something else. Most teams have charters, once they're out of school. Rules of conduct, splitting of pay, lots of 'in the event of's, all that." She waited for Kali's nod, then continued. "I did my research and wrote out a preliminary charter for team RWBY. I wanted to get your opinions on it. Before I show it to everyone." She offered her scroll to Kali, who took it. "I was hoping that we could have it authorized by Menagerie. To make our commitment to human/Faunus co-operation clear."

  
Kali looked through the document, ears flicking. "It would be a powerful statement. Now, in the wake of the attack on Haven. Or later, reminding everyone about how the Menagerie militia helped here." She looked up at Weiss. "I can have some of my people look over it, and give you a more thorough appraisal." Kali pulled out her own scroll, and the exchange was made.

  
Weiss stood up. "Thank you for the advice, Mrs.- Kali. I should get back to the house. We have practice."

  
Unfolding from the bench, Kali wrapped Weiss in another hug. "Of course, Weiss. Remember, if you ever have a week or two to spare, I'm sure my husband would love to get to know you. And I would appreciate the company. Do you drink tea?"

  
Weiss smiled. "Coffee, I'm afraid."

  
"Well, I can make that too. We do have a small native coffee crop that you might enjoy." Kali released her. "We'll see all of you before you leave?"

  
"Of course!"

  
"Then you work on your end, and I'll work on my end, and we'll see about making Blake and Yang into team-mates again."

  
"Agreed." Weiss started to add one last thing. Stopped. Triple checked her words. "Thank you for not hating me. I know my father's company has done nothing good to you or those you love."

  
Kali gave her a long look. "I'm trying very hard not to hate you, Miss Schnee. You're making it easier, showing as much trust in me as you have. But I have a litany of crimes in my head, perpetrated by your blood. Of which you have been the beneficiary."

  
Weiss made herself meet Kali's look. "And I will fix as much as I can. You have my word. As a Schnee, as Blake's friend, as the girl who came to you for advice. Blake and Yang are one more step in that."

  
"Good luck, Weiss. You've got a long road ahead of you."

  
"I know. One step at a time. Thank you, Kali."


End file.
